Helped

A confluence of positive trends, including continued robustness in wholesale energy trading activity, helped to propel first quarter 2001 earnings at energy marketing and trading powerhouse Enron Corp. and its energy marketing competitor Dynegy Inc. above and beyond expectations previously locked in by Wall Street analysts.

A confluence of positive trends, including continued robustness in wholesale energy trading activity, helped to propel first quarter 2001 earnings at energy marketing and trading powerhouse Enron Corp. and its energy marketing competitor Dynegy Inc. above and beyond expectations previously locked in by Wall Street analysts.

Buoyed by its success in an aggressive drilling program thathelped to replace 329% of its 2000 natural gas production,Williams’ exploration and production unit now plans to drill morethan 300 wells this year — a record number in a single year forthe company — concentrating its talents in Wyoming’s Green RiverBasin and New Mexico’s San Juan Basin.

Exploration successes in its deepwater Gulf of Mexico drillingprogram helped to triple reserve replacement to 269% last year forHouston-based Ocean Energy Inc., a positive sign that otherindependents hope to mimic as fourth quarter results are announcedin the next few weeks. Ocean Energy’s over-the-top numbers may notbe matched, but analysts believe independents’ reserve replacementswill be up, averaging around 3%.

A strong performance by Aquila Energy during the first quarterhelped UtiliCorp United earnings reach a record level. UtiliCorpearnings available for common shares were $54.4 million, comparedto $51.9 million in 1Q99.

It was a tale of two markets Friday at the New York MercantileExchange. Softer cash market prices helped push futures priceslower early in the trading session. Those losses, however, werequickly erased in the afternoon as traders weighed the impact offorecasts calling for warming temperatures this week. The Julycontract finished at $2.437, 4 cents higher for the day and 7.9cents for the week.

Positive contributions from gathering, processing andinternational activities helped boost El Paso Energy’s secondquarter earnings to $0.45/share, an increase of 22% from $0.37 in2Q97. Earnings before interest and taxes increased to $149 millionfrom $139 million in the year ago quarter.

Cold weather helped many Western points avoid the prices dropsin the East that generally ranged from a nickel to 15 centsTuesday. It was snowing Monday and Tuesday in the Salt Lake Cityarea and that is expected to continue today, a trader told DailyGPI. Only the Southwest basins and Waha were left out of the West’sfirmness, likely because they were getting no demand support at allfrom intrastate Texas and Midwest markets, sources said.